Rebuild VMM32.VXD on Windows 9x
This article details how to rebuild the VMM32.VXD file for a Windows 9x installation. Step 1 The first step is to know precisely what Virtual Device Driver your VMM32.VXD file contained. The registry must be examined under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\VMM32Files to find what files are needed. The contents of this registry key should be exported to a file, ideally named something like VMM32.REG. Step 2 Use your favourite plain-text editor to open up the VMM32.REG file (although it should ideally have Find and Replace capabilities; Wordpad, Notepad (post-Windows 9x versions have Find and Replace options) and Notepad++ are all decent choices. Delete the first few lines in the file, so that you are left with a list approximating the following: "biosxlat.vxd"=hex:00 "combuff.vxd"=hex:00 "configmg.vxd"=hex:00 Save what you have as WININIT.INI, which will be used later. The file must be saved in ASCII-compliant plain-text. Step 3 Re-open VMM32.REG again and use Find and Replace to search for all instances of "=hex:00 and leave the replace option as blank, or null. This will effectively remove the text without replacing it with anything, so you should be left with something approximating the following: "biosxlat.vxd "combuff.vxd "configmg.vxd Next, use Find and Replace to replace " with the following: * If using Windows 95: extract /a /y X:\win95\win95_02.cab * If using Windows 98: extract /a /y X:\win98\base4.cab Replace X with the correct drive letter for your CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive where the OS CD is present. The path can also be changed to a local drive that has the contents of the relevant CD e.g. C:\ISOs\Windows 95 CD. Remember that there needs to be a space immediately proceeding the final replace string, otherwise you will end up with "extract /a /y X:\win95\win95_02.cabbiosxlat.vxd", which will obviously fail to execute. You should now be left with something approximating this: extract /a /y X:\win98\base4.cab biosxlat.vxd extract /a /y X:\win98\base4.cab combuff.vxd extract /a /y X:\win98\base4.cab configmg.vxd At the very top of the file, place this information before everything else on the first 5 lines: @echo off C: cd \windows\system extract /a /y X:\win98\base4.cab vmm32.vxd cd \windows\system\vmm32 Again, replace the path depending on what you have, that includes the C: if you have Windows 9x installed on a non-C: drive letter. Now, add the following to the very end of the file, after everything else: cls echo Extraction of files required to rebuild VMM32.VXD is complete. You may now close the DOS window and restart your system. Now, compare the list of files in System32 to the list of files to be extracted from the CD. If there are newer versions present in System32, delete the entry from being extracted; We want to keep all newer files where possible. Save the file as VXDREBUILD.BAT Step 4 Load the WININIT.INI file we created earlier into your text editor. Use Find and Replace to find "=hex:00 and replace it with =C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd (adjusting Windows installation path if required). You should wind up with something like this: "biosxlat.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd "combuff.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd "configmg.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd Use Find and Replace again to find " and replace it with C:\windows\system\vmm32\ (adjusting Windows installation path if required). You should now have something like this: C:\windows\system\vmm32\biosxlat.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd C:\windows\system\vmm32\combuff.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd C:\windows\system\vmm32\configmg.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd Step 5 At the very top of the file, before the contents of the file, place SetupOptions on line 1, and Combine=1 on line 2. Under this, add CombindVxDs on line 4, with the file contents beginning on line 5. This would hopefully look like this: SetupOptions Combine=1 CombineVxDs C:\windows\system\vmm32\biosxlat.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd C:\windows\system\vmm32\combuff.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd C:\windows\system\vmm32\configmg.vxd=C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd Save the file. Step 6 Move WININIT.INI and VXDREBUILD.BAT to your Windows installation directory (usually C:\Windows). Backup all files currently in Windows\System32\vmm32 and your current VMM32.VXD file to a safe location, preferably to a second partition. Go to Start -> Run, and enter VXDREBUILD as the command. This will commence the operation, the time required varying between systems. Restart your Windows 9x system when this operation is complete. When Windows boots, WININIT.INI will be processed, and you will see a "Please wait while setup updates..." message on your screen, as the new VMM32.VXD file is being created from the files in Windows\System32\vmm32, and leaving files that do not belong in VMM32.VXD in that directory. The files combined into VMM32.VXD will be deleted from Windows\System32\vmm32.